rented island rituals.

Halloween always catches me off guard. I spend months looking forward to the holiday, to the opportunity to get creative with costuming. And yet, when the special day finally arrives, I am caught off guard, usually costume-less.

Luckily I was able to improvise with glow-in-the-dark necklaces this year. Neon instantly adds an element of fun to any get-up.

The Whitney Museum provided the colorful necklaces at their opening party for "Rituals of Rented Island," on view through February 2nd. A Halloween celebration followed the exhibition viewing.

"Rituals of Rented Island" focuses on the radical performance art that took place in downtown Manhattan during the 1970's. Artists in this group performed anywhere and everywhere - in private lofts, on the stage, in store fronts. Some performance pieces lack any film documentation; photos and posters are left to tell their stories.

The show was quite fitting for a Halloween opening night as I found much of the work on view somewhat eerie. Jack Smith's monstrous bras for men (from his performance "Irrational Landlordism of Bagdad") were captivating but left me uncomfortable. The crazily patterned props looked as if they may come alive at any moment and crawl toward me, bra straps threateningly raised.

Squat Theatre's area showcased a hanging severed head amongst posters and photographs documenting the group's plays. As someone with a bit of a dummy/doll phobia, this mask will leave me haunted for weeks. A large-scale mural of a demonic child played a film of a naked woman contorting her body into impossible positions - through its eyes. A Freudian reference?

While I did not understand much of the exhibition, I was at the very least relieved that the quirky art in the show stood out much more than my lack of a costume.

Shot at The Whitney Museum of American Art. Photos by Rachel Kozin and Nicole Weiler. Wearing {a somewhat festive Halloween pick... black seems to always do the trick!}:

Phillip Lim sheer black silk top, mandarin garnet yellow gold ring, stacked yellow gold diamond pinky rings, diamond solitaire necklace {my design}, dangling diamond/blue sapphire/tanzanite yellow gold necklace {my design}

how earrings are born.

For the past four years, I have had the pleasure of working for a private fine jeweler in Manhattan. During this time, I have received an education in jewelry design, diamond grading, color stone identification, metal smithing, luxury marketing, and so much more. I continue to learn (and get excited about) something new every day.

Working for such a successful and amazingly supportive company has allowed me the opportunity to discover my love for fine jewelry design. An art unto itself.

The design process is always exciting. Watching your mind's creation slowly to come to life piece by piece is a thrilling experience. The end product after so much thought and work is incredibly rewarding. Fantasy made reality.

Two years ago I found the most beautiful pair of watermelon tourmaline slices at a buying show in New York. After many trial sketches, I recently finalized an earring design for the stones.

My jeweler translated my sketch into a wax model that would fit the stones exactly. Using CAD (computer-aided design) software, he created the design plan for the CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) machine to print out the necessary waxes. More simply put, the wax models were created by 3D printing - a technology that is dramatically changing the jewelry industry.

Molds were made from the wax pieces, which are used to cast the final gold parts. After casting the gold my jeweler assembled the rest by hand - soldering the earring top's loop closed, attaching posts, creating a wire bezel for the dangling diamonds, polishing the gold.

The result: a stunning pair of 18K yellow gold watermelon tourmaline slice earrings rimmed in gold and dripping with dangling diamonds. A fantasy come to life even more beautiful than I imagined.